Bread-Baking

I have been having the hardest time learning to bake bread. I don't know if my yeast was bad or if my flour wasn't right or if I was killing the yeast or I wasn't kneading it enough but it has never come out right.

Jodi at Curious Acorn,graciously showed me how to bake bread properly and it came out lovely!

Bread-making Tips:

- Keep your yeast in the refrigerator or freezer to prolong its life.

- Always use a small measuring cup and another cup to fill it. That way you get a better measurement as the flour won't compact as much.

- Knead for the duration that the recipe calls for, it is necessary. 

- A regular lamp is enough heat for the dough to rise near.

- Put a warm, moist towel over the bowl to help it rise.

-Putting a metal tray of water in the oven while baking bread helps develop a darker crust.

-Baking on a baking stone helps the bread form a good crust.

It tuned out nice. We used a recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. It is a different style dough than normal bread but Jodi showed me how to make normal breads too and the difference between regular dough and "no knead dough." 

We also looked at a colonial recipe that I am hoping to reduce soon and try to bake. The original recipe calls for a peck of flour (about 225 or so cups) and to bake the dough in five pound loaves!  

I Don't Feel Like Writing a Post...

...but it doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything!

Lately, I think a lot of people have been suffering from don't-wanna-write-a-post-itis. The culprit? I think we've been all doing a lot more than we normally do. I have a thousand things I'd like to write a post on but so much has been going on.

 I finally found something to do with those old textbooks that no one wants. 

I have been using them as scrapbooks.This is not a new idea, in fact it is hundreds of years old, or a very creative idea but it does solve two problems I've been having. Historically, paper has been an expensive item: frugal housewives have long taken to using their husband's old business ledgers to paste newspaper clippings, recipes, letters, drawings, and photos into to keep them neat and in one place.These scrapbooks are not pretty but they do tell a lot about what people were interested in.

I had a lot of clippings, photocopied pages from old books, and magazine stories lying around. This really ended up being a good solution.  

Before I did this I made sure that really no one had any use for these books. The two books I used were an old Political Science book and an old Economics book. They were already outdated by the time the classes were finished, so I couldn't sell them back, I couldn't sell them online, I couldn't even give them away. I felt bad putting them in the recycling bin. I can't believe I didn't think of this before! It really does help keep my notes in order.

Civil War Era Purse Knit-Along Update #2

It's Friday and that means another Knit-along update. I have only knitted 2 out of my 20 stripes but hope to get a lot done next week at a reenactment. I have decided to stay with the purple and white and plan to line it in bright red silk. I really like the pattern, even if it is a really simple one. The first swatch I made, I definitely was working to tightly and so my hands were hurting from knitting. This time I have kept it very loose and it is much easier for me to knit. For those of you participating, please link your progress on the widget at the bottom of this post.

However today I really need to do a bit of summer cleaning. I still have papers left over from school, books, clothing, ect. collecting in my room to the point that I can't think. I always like to keep a bit of creative chaos in my bedroom but this is too much and it's time for a total cleaning. I don't know how all this stuff collects!

It feels more difficult to simplify when you are required to purchase things for school that you have no use for when school is out. I have a calculator, book bag and numerous textbooks with nothing to do until school starts up in August. Not to mention those textbooks that are useless and no one wants. (You can't sell them back because of a new edition, you can't sell them online, library sales do not want them, thrift stores don't want them, and you feel bad sticking it in the recycling bin.) 

Books are also a terrible part of simplifying. I love me books but there really is no room for any more. In my future home, I am going to have to have a library like old-fashioned manors used to have. I never buy fiction so my collection is mostly nonfiction and stuff that the local libraries do not have. I never purchase a book that I know I will never read again or that I can borrow. 

I have long considered turning it into a lending library. :D

Civil War Era Purse Knit-Along Update #1

 If you are new to the knit-along, you can work on a Civil War Era knitted purse along with the rest of us! The pattern can be found here. Then everyone has a chance to link their progress to the bottom of this and every update posts which should be posted on Fridays.

I admit, I've been lazy on my knitting. Now that my birthday is over, I'll have more time to work on it. I am thinking of keeping the violet and white but am also considering white and red. I wish I could post a photo but my camera died over the weekend and I have to try and fix it.

Feel free to link your materials or your progress on the widget below.  

Update!

I haven't died. I did go to an event and planned to give a detailed, photo heavy account of the action. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the parking lot the whole weekend directing cars. We had some horrible thunderstorms and we were trying to keep the cars from getting stuck as they were parking on very wet grass.

I was surprised at the number of people who arrived 10 minutes after the battle started and expected a parking spot right up front. In fact, during the battle, we were already in the second overflow lot. Many complained of the long walk. In all honesty, the walk was about 1/4 of a mile. Many ignored the staffers parking cars are parked anywhere they pleased. A few declared that they had "four-wheel drive," in which we responded "but not all of the cars who will be driving after you, do."

So what was supposed to be fun ended up in a conversation about the degradation of American society. Since when can't we walk 1/4 of a mile (note: it would have been a much shorter walk had they shown up an hour or two before the battle) and feel entitled to park anywhere we feel despite the mess we would leave behind to everyone else at the event?

During the event, my camera died, so unfortunately this post has to be without pictures. Despite the cranky people, we still kept high spirits and had fun. It was a very boring job.